Kubica able to move fingers on injured hand

Renault have given encouraging signs about Robert Kubica’s progress following his rally crash yesterday.

A statement issued by the team confirmed he has been able to move the fingers in his damaged hand following yesterday’s surgery.

The team said: “Robert?óÔé¼Ôäós general condition is much better today.

“After spending the night under constant observation, he was briefly woken up by the doctors of the Santa Corona Hospital (Pietra Ligure) this morning. The Lotus Renault GP driver was then able to talk to his relatives. He was also able to move his fingers, which is encouraging for the rest of his recovery process.

“Professor Mario Igor Rossello, Director for the Regional Centre of Hand Surgery at San Paolo Hospital in Savona, did not notice any swelling or infection on his right forearm, and this is another good sign, although it will be several days before it is known if the operation has been 100% successful.

“In order to avoid any physical stress, Robert will be put under gentle medication in order to sleep for the next 24 hours at least. Meanwhile, the doctors will decide how they will treat his elbow and shoulder fractures. Robert may have to undergo surgery once again for this, but not for a few days.

“Lotus Renault GP wishes to thank the Hospital of San Paolo (Savona) and the Santa Corona Hospital (Pietra Ligure) for their professional approach and their dedication.”

I wonder if it will make any difference that he had incredibly quick reflexes and nerves in the first place. I remember towards the end of last season when a number of journalists underwent F1 training in Abu Dhabi including James Allen and Will Buxton, one of them wrote about the doctor who tests for the reflex aptitude of drivers (to see whether or not they have the natural ability required to be an F1 driver, never mind the physical training or learned car handling), and he said that Kubica held the all time record on his testing software with a near perfect score.

Well its all good if you if you ignore the induced coma he’s was brought out of and then put back into. I think he will recover fully but talk of 2 months out is just crazy.

How are you going to throw him into a car which will be markedly different to the car he last tested, with no testing, in the middle of a F1 season? Take your time RK and come back next season 100%.

This quote struck a chord as a blood donor
“Kubica lost a lot of blood, that is why the first hour was critical. He was unconscious and could not be operated on when he arrived at the hospital. He needed many transfusions during the stabilising process as well as during the very long surgery.”

So if you are glad he’s gonna get better get yourself to the blood donor office.

“All this medical stuff is confusing, but lets just hope he gets better soon!” That’s mostly cause the language is being incredibly watered down for news media/public consumption. Public medical releases (at least in the US) have to pass a test that allows for gradeschool level reading comprehension so that 95+% of the population can understand it. To get clear, honest answers, most people will usually need a couple years of anatomy/medical terminology/surgical terminology to fully understand the language.

Encouraging news, although I fear that his racing career may now be over. I keep reading more and more details about the crash as they’re uncovered (from reputible sites that generally have their facts right), and am getting more and more convinced that this is it.

David Coulthard has given a perspective on the strains and stresses that the hands and lower arms go through when guiding a car around a track. The tone of the article would suggest that DC is fairly sure that Kubica probably wont race in F1 again.

I feel much better about this now. I heard that the first thing he asked when he awoke was about the condition of his co-driver. Very touching!

Wouldn’t be surprised if he was fit to return mid-season – but I hope he doesn’t rush himself – if he misses the first 6 races or so – he won’t be able to win the WDC anyway – so may as well take the time to recover.

A shame – I was actually going to put a little flutter on him this year.

I would be VERY surprised if he makes a come back at any point this season.

He’ll be much better off taking the whole year off – making sure that he gives his hand and arm the best chance possible to recover and when he’s ready getting in the simulator to rack up the hours and only once he is 100% back to fitness should he get behind the wheel of an F1 car again.

This is about as serious an injury as you can have to your hand without actually losing it. It’s very unlikely that someone who suffers this kind of injury will get back the strength and dexterity they had previously – that said, if anyone can recover from this it is an F1 driver as they all have the kind of mental discipline to do whatever it takes.

This Boullier is really p…ing me off, actually, making predictions that Robert’s going to recover in less than a year. It’s unwanted pressure and he has no idea what will happen, only what he wants to happen.

Thank goodness Robert is alive and still has his hand, that’s all I can say.

This is really good news. I probably should be more cynical and I know he has a long way to go but I really find it hard to believe that he won’t be back in F1. He’s recovered well in the past and his a very determined driver so hopefully he’ll give us a great comeback story :)

Absolutely. Huge praise to the doctors and surgeons who by the sounds of it saved Robert’s life.

Great to hear such positive news. But shocking to hear more about the crash and Robert’s injuries. Compound fractures to the elbow and shoulder along with the partial severing of his arm and huge blood loss. Very scary stuff. Despite that, he’s a lucky man.

Thats a lot of good news today. Robert was conscious of what had happened and asked for Gerber’s condition (thankfully he is OK). Now we hear that he is already moving his fingers. This should mean that his fingers are not broken and shattered, but rather he sustained clean cuts. The nerves seem to be working extremely well since they were reattached under 24hrs ago… I truly believe Robert will get himself back together and continue on a successful career. All the best!

Some good news regarding a very unfortunate situation. All the best to him during this recovery period. I hope he takes all the time necessary, no need to rush back into the car since his title hopes will be gone after the first 4 races.

Scary, hope the FIA looks at this & impro0ve the safety of the car so that things like this could be avoided in the future.

” Kubica’s first words were to ask about the condition of his co-driver, Jakub Gerber, who was uninjured in the crash.” that is a good sign with the fact that Flavio Briatore have meet him & said that he is recovering.

Eric Boullier scares me when he says that Kubica’s recovery will not take a year.

It’s far too early to make that kind of prediction – regardless of your responsibilities in the eyes of sponsors.

Best thing he can do for now is make sure that whoever stands in for Robert gets plenty of testing time to get up to speed and understands that they’re only keeping his seat warm until he comes back.

Because Renault allowed their driver to indulge his passion for rallying – and I still say good on them even given the events of yesterday – but they should be willing to stand by that driver if things go wrong.

I don’t think he’ll try to push Kubica back into a car too soon because that would do far more harm but doctors tend to look at the worst case scenario and historically F1 drivers tend to heal pretty quickly so I wouldn’t be shocked if he turned out to be right.

Yes but if you watch the interview with the surgeon he is very specific in saying that 1 year would be the best case scenario when the journo’s are pushing him to say that it will be quicker. And that’s “just” the hand.

Fractures to the shoulder will need to be fully healed as being pressed into the side of the cockpit at several G around high speed corners could be extremely painful otherwise, not to mention the potential for further injuries if he rushes back too soon.

this is from an italian site
Briatore visited him and he is saying good news.

Flavio Briatore has visited Robert Kubica in the hospital in Pietra Ligure after the long operation conducted Sunday following the terrible accident in a rally race. The former manager of the Renault team appeared relieved at the exit of the hospital, when he was stopped by the microphones of Sky: “I found it very well, first I was very worried, reading medical journals seemed to be a very serious thing. But is good , we joked, we will see him in the car pretty soon. I am very happy – he continued – for me it looks like he is going to return before the end of the season, is the only thing he wants, has an incredible motivation, these kids also have a physical exception, they are the champions, are made of iron. Is very conscient and I’m sure he is going to be as good as before. Alonso? I called on Sunday we were terrified, now I’m really optimistic for him for the family and for the fans.
It was wrong to participate in the rally? it’s useless to debate now, I hope is going to be the driver who he is and I’m sure he is going to make it. The only doubt is his right hand, but it seems to me that there is a lot of optimism on this front,” he continues

Get out there and become a Community First Responder or volunteer for St John Ambulance or similar organisations. I do and it’s fantastic (not to mention we cover the GP at Silverstone – though I don’t think I’ll be on duty there this year), we always need more people to join up.